Liner



Patented Mar. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE CHARLES BUTTERFIELD, OF NORWOOD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR T HAROLD W. NICHOLS, OF

CINCINNATI, OHIO LINER Application filed March 16, 1931. Serial No. 522,832.

i paper, into which piece of paper a series of articles are placed, which are to beshipped and packed tightly enough that the paper, together with the articles, can be slipped into a basket, as for example, a bushel basket. 0 The paper is perforated for ventilation, and it has been found that the paper will break after the articles are packed in the basket, which is an undesirable feature, but perhaps was necessary in the older dome-shaped baskets. It is the object of my invention to provide a liner of baskets in which the adaptability of the liner to conform to the shape of the basket is provided by crimping or tucking a sheet of paper, the crimps or 0 tucks being tacked or held by means of glue or otherwise. The pleats can be made to give whatever shape is desired to the liner, either truly conical for a conical basket, or flared to give a rounded effect, thus enabling 5 the liner to completely conform to the shape of the basket when first inserted.

I obtain a number of other advantages by my modification in addition to the advantage above set forth, and these advantages 0 and objects will be pointed out in connection with a typical embodiment of my invention which I have illustrated in the drawing, and of which I append a full description. The novelty inherent in my invention I set forth 5 in the attached claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank.

Figure 2 is a plan view after the tapered box pleats have been made.

Figure 3 is a section on the line a-a of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective of the liner set up and glued.

Figure 5 is a perspective of a basket containing a liner and articles of commerce.

The liner may be cut from a sheet of paper lengthwise of the sheet by a slitting operation and the width of the strip to form the blank will be the top to bottom dimension of the finished liner. The reason why the liner can be cut lengthwise of the sheet is that the shaping of the liner into a tapered form is done by means of tapered box pleats. Slnce the grain of the paper is lengthwise of the sheet, this results in a very much stronger liner than hitherto made, because the breaking strains will be crosswise of the grain in my liner instead of lengthwise of the grain in the old type.

In the former practice where no pleats were formed in the sheet, it was necessary to cut the sheet with the one edge longer than the other and both edges in a curve. This necessitated, for the sake of economy, cutting the sheet to form the liner transverse of a piece of paper as formed on the paper machine, and furthermore, resulted in waste at the ends of each piece. This waste can be visualized byexamination of Figure 2 which is the completed blank, already pleated, of my invention. If this blank were to be cut as asingle piece from a web of paper, it will be noted that, for the sake of economy, it would have to be cut by a transverse shearing operation, and that therewould be considerable waste. Y I

There is another decided disadvantage to the method adopted of cutting out basket liners in thepast, which arises from the fact that the length of the blank which controls the diameter of the liner for a bushel basket, comes out to be about 54 inches," and it is very uneconomical to operate the paper mill of standard type to'make a sheet just 54 inches wide less trim. As a result, the paper itself which was manufactured for basket liners was expensive to make, the operation of cutting out the liners transverse of the sheet involved a die or shear operation, and there was considerable waste incident to the cutting of the blank along both ends thereof.

After the blank is out according to my invention, said blank being marked 1 in Figure 1, the tapered pleats 2 are formed. The pleats are made of material which'appears in dotted lines in Figure 1, each pleatbeing formed by two divergent inversely arranged Z folds, being best shown in the sectional View of Figure 8 and in perspective view in Figure 4:.

It is desirable 'to apply paste to the portions 1 indicated at 3 in dotted lines in Figure 1 so that when the pleats are formed there will be sutlicient adherence to hold them flat. The paste may be omitted and the pleats merely rolled flat, or the pleats may be tacked by staples.

The pleats will act as cushions for the liner and, as is apparent. form reinforcements for the liner permitting lighter weight paper to be used than would otherwise be practical.

In previous liners where no pleats were present it was not practical to usepapers which are of the soft and cushioning type, because such paper would be entirely too weak. With the pleats acting as a reinforcement, I am able to use the softer papers, and, of course, the pleats being made of this type of paper, their cushioning effect. due to their thickness. is further enhanced. It is also to be noted that the folds of the pleat have a spring effect which further protects the contents of the package.

The equivalent material to that in my pleats was thrown away in cutting out the blanks of the older forms. and instead of this waste I use the material in the form of pleats to protect the contents of the package and strengthen its structure.

The pleats, as will be noted. are formed in the outside of the sheet. leaving a full. smooth surface interiorly of the sheet, to be presented to the contents. of the package. Also. the rough lap or parted ioint of the old type liner may be eliminated by combining my joint with the pleat.

The additional thickness of the pleats results in the pleats taking a considerable portion of the wear due to friction arising from application of shocks and jars to the completed package. as well as reinforcing the package against rupture.

I have indicated ventilation holes 4. formed in the blank.

Various ways of packing the merchandise in the liner and then getting the liner and merchandise in the basket can be followed.

Having thus described my invention. what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is

1. A package liner comprising an elongated substantially rectangular blank with. straight edges having tapered pleats formed therein from one longitudinal edge to the other, and the ends secured together to form a tapering tubular basket liner.

2. A package liner comprisingan elongated substantially rectangular blank with straight edges having tapered pleats formed therein from one longitudinal to the other. and the ends secured together to form a tapering tubular basket liner, said blank having its grain running lengthwise thereof.

3. A tapering tubular basket liner comprising an elongated substantially straight blank having formed therein, from one longitudinal edge to the other, tapered pleats each 

